1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computing devices and, more particularly, to computing devices supporting one or more media or expansion bays.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable computing systems often include one or more media bays for adding additional resources to the systems. These additional resources can, for example, be a floppy drive, a Compact-Disc (CD) drive, a hard drive, a Digital Video Disc (DVD) drive, a modem, a sound device, or a battery. Media bays are also known as expansion bays.
Problems result when a user removes a resource that is in use from a media bay. In the case of data storage device or data transfer devices, the removal of a resource that is in use can lead to lost or corrupted data. Even when the data storage device or the data transfer device is not actually being physically used when the resource is removed, often the resource is available for use by the computer system. In such cases, data can also be lost or damaged by the removal of the resource.
Conventionally, a user of a computer system could be informed by a Light Emitting Diode (LED) that a floppy drive or a disk drive was in use. Hence, the LED informed the user that the media (e.g., disc) in the drive should not be removed because it is physically using the media. Likewise, LEDs have been used to inform a user that removable drives should not be removed from media bays while physically in use. One problem is that it is not uncommon for users to ignore the LED indications. Another problem is that some media bays do not support or provide such LEDs.
Software locks have also been used with computer system having a single media bay. However, the problem with such conventional software locks is that they handled on a single media bay. More recent computer systems often include two or more media bays. A problem with the conventional software locks is that they do not support computer systems having multiple media bays.
Thus, there is a need for improved ways to inform and dissuade users from improperly removing removable devices from media bays of computer systems.